USDA’s latest forecast of total world wheat production stands at 745 million metric tons (MMT), down 1 percent from 2016/17. Though USDA expects global wheat production to decrease by 8.46 MMT, it expects global wheat consumption to remain high at 737 MMT, down 1.13 MMT from the 2016/17 record. With lower production and stable consumption, staying abreast of the location and quality of the 2017/18 wheat crop is key. The following is a look at production and quality expectations for major exporting regions and countries outside the United States. Read the full article here.

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USW, State Wheat Commissions Welcome 2017 Taiwan Goodwill Mission

Taiwan Flour Millers Association (TFMA) Chairman Tony I. T. Chen (center right in photo, holding letter) and USW President Vince Peterson (center left) signed a letter of intent by TFMA to purchase a total of 1.8 million MT of U.S. wheat in 2018 and 2019 on Sept. 13, 2017, in the Mansfield Room of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The ceremony was a part of a biennial Agricultural Trade Goodwill Mission to the United States to purchase grains and other agricultural products for the people of Taiwan. Witnesses to the signing include Congressman Roger Marshall of Kansas (left of Vince Peterson), Representative Stanley Kao, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States and a Republic of China agricultural minister. Read the full article here.

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Cuba’s Recovery from Another Hurricane Should be Eased by an End to the U.S. Embargo

By Steve Mercer, USW Vice President of Communications

The aftermath of Hurricane Irma is simply stunning. So many of our Caribbean neighbors are facing so much destruction, including in Cuba where the full fury of Irma raked the northern coastline as a Category 5 hurricane that killed at least 10 people and flooded central Havana. Read the full article here.

In 2016, a group of Cuban milling professionals traveled to Kansas.

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The European Union’s Uneasy Relationship with Science

By Elizabeth Westendorf, USW Assistant Director of Policy

Last week, the European Court of Justice ruled that EU member states cannot ban cultivation of genetically engineered crops without scientific evidence of risk to human health. The ruling was on a case that dates back to 2013, when an Italian farmer wanted to plant biotech corn. Italy has long banned the planting of genetically engineered crops. The farmer in question, Giorgio Fidenato, planted the corn on his land in defiance of Italy’s ban. Four years later, it is a win for science-based regulation that the European Court of Justice sided with Fidenato and ruled that Italy does not have the right to ban GM crops without a scientific reason. Read the full article here.

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Congressional Support for U.S. Agricultural Export Market Development Programs

Legislation that would amend the U.S. Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to extend and expand the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development (FMD) program, which are administered by USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), has now been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Read the full article here.

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